Of White Gowns and Fake Tears
by Of-butterbeer-and-frogs
Summary: It's Bill and Fleur's wedding day, but two people aren't feeling very festive...A HarryGinny fanfic.  Oneshot. My second, so please R&R!


Of White Gowns and Fake Tears

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter series: that honor belongs to JK Rowling.**

**Author's Note: My eternal gratitude to hpfanatic7, who was the first person ever to review any of my stories. To all you fanfiction writers out there: I promise to review ALL Harry Potter-related stories belonging to the first 10 people who review mine. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! **

Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair distractedly. It was Bill and Fleur's wedding day, and instead of feeling happy like the other guests, he felt depressed and alone. It was only to be expected of course, considering that this young wizard was to become the savior of the wizarding world and defeat the most evil wizard ever to walk the earth. Not to mention that said evil wizard was constantly devising new ways to kill Harry and his friends. Because of this, Harry had been forced to break up with the girl he loved, Ginny Weasley. Yes, the weight of the world was indeed upon Harry's shoulders, and there was nothing he could do but accept it and move on.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ginny laughing with another Weasley and moving his way. "Probably Bill," Harry thought as he watched the pair come closer. Suddenly, Ginny caught sight of Harry, and the smile fell from her face. It was soon replaced by a look of sadness so great that all Harry wanted to do was run and comfort her and kiss her all evening. But, he knew he could do no such thing. He had broken up with her to keep her safe, and that was reason enough to stop him from doing what he so longed to do.

Harry sighed once more and continued to watch Ginny out of the corner of his eye. Bill was bending over her anxiously, probably wondering what had caused her to become so sad all of a sudden. She forced a smile, shook her head, and abruptly led Bill in another direction, away from Harry.

Harry simply sat and watched the retreating back of the girl he loved most in the world. How he longed to hold her, to tell her he had never stopped loving her!

Suddenly, a mass of bushy brown hair obscured his vision.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, and looking up, saw that he was correct.

"Hey Harry," Hermione said happily, but the look in her eyes as she searched Harry's face said otherwise.

"Hi," Harry replied, averting his eyes.

"How are you?" she asked, even though she had just seen him that morning.

"Fine," he replied.

Before she could question him further, though, a tall boy with flaming red hair flopped down next to Hermione.

"Hey Ron," Harry greeted his other best friend.

"Hiya Harry," Ron replied, then kissed Hermione on the cheek in greeting.

Hermione blushed, but both boys knew she had enjoyed the kiss.

"How's everything?" Ron asked Harry casually.

"Fine," Harry replied, annoyed at how every conversation he seemed to have lately always started off with inquiries about his health.

"Mate, if you ever say anything besides 'fine', then something would really be wrong," Ron commented lightly.

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by someone (probably Fred) shouting, "Cake is served! Come and get it!"

Immediately Ron leapt to his feet and hurried towards the voice, dragging Hermione with him. Secretly, Harry was glad that they had left. All he wanted was to be alone. But, that wish was not to be granted, for just a few moments later, Ginny approached and quietly sat down next to him.

"Hey Harry," she said, staring at the ground.

"Hey Ginny," Harry replied, doing likewise.

But, he found that staring at the ground was not as easy as he had thought. All he wanted to do was gaze at the beautiful girl sitting next to him, so he did.

After a few moments of silence, Ginny looked up to see Harry staring at her. He quickly looked away.

"Harry-" Ginny began, but Harry cut her off.

"Look Ginny," he said, turning his head to look at her but not quite meeting her eyes. "I know you think I'm being stupid, and that us not being together is pointless, but you have to trust me." At this, his eyes at last met hers. "Voldemort is trying to kill me, and he will do anything to do that. If he finds out that we're dating, then he'll use you to get to me. He'll torture you, probably even kill you." He averted his gaze once more. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. I-"

Now it was Ginny's turn to interrupt. "No, Harry," she said firmly. "I understand why, but what I don't understand is how."

Harry looked confused, so Ginny continued. "How will this do any good? I mean, Voldemort will find out if you still have feelings for me. So all you're doing is hurting yourself," she looked away. "And me," she said in a small voice.

"Ginny, you don't understand!" Harry said, exasperated.

"No, Harry, I do understand," she said, raising her voice slightly. "I'm not an idiot! I get it! I know why you did what you did! Because it was the _right_ thing to do, the _noble _thing to do," she spat sarcastically. "But how can you just sit there and hurt yourself like this? Isn't that exactly what Voldemort wants?!? For you to hurt, for me to hurt, for there to be less love for him to destroy?" With a pang of guilt, she realized she had been shouting. She opened her mouth to continue, but was cut off by Harry.

"I won't put you in a position where you could get hurt, Ginny!" he said angrily, his voice rising with every word. "Don't you get it? People die just because they care about me! It's what Voldemort wants! To take away everything that means something to me! My parents, Sirius, Dumbledore-"

"Dumbledore," Ginny practically shouted, "would be _happy_ that there was a little more love in this world!!"

By now, almost everyone was staring at them, but the two either didn't notice, or just didn't care.

"What good would it be to love," Harry exclaimed (now he was actually shouting) "if it was just taken away again?!?!?!"

"It would do a lot of good, Harry! Why can't you see that?!?!?!" Ginny shouted back. "Honestly, for the savior of the wizarding world you can be pretty stupid sometimes!"

"I will not put you in danger!" Harry yelled, causing the people who weren't paying attention to suddenly listen in.

"Why not?!?" Ginny shouted. "I have proven myself perfectly capable of defending myself!!! So why not?!?"

"Because I love you!" Harry yelled, suddenly realizing the scene they were making.

"W-w-what?" Ginny stammered, lowering her voice and becoming acutely aware of everyone staring at them.

"Because I love you," Harry replied in a more reasonable tone. "I've always loved you, and even though I said I didn't," he paused, "I never stopped loving you."

"I love you too, Harry," Ginny said softly, stepping closer to him.

Harry looked up, directly into her eyes. "You do?" he breathed.

"Of course," she replied, a small smile playing about her lips.

"That's good," Harry said, and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

"Ooooh!" Fred said mischievously.

"How romantic!" George said, pretending to wipe away an imaginary tear.

Then, both started to clap and cheer. All the other guests quickly did the same.

Ginny and Harry broke apart, each blushing furiously, and looked around at the smiling faces that threatened to engulf them. Harry glanced down at Ginny, smiling, and for the first time in a long time, he felt truly and completely happy.


End file.
